Fatalities on the rise

By S.Shanker

CHENNAI, SEPT. 30. Two persons were killed in an accident involving a water lorry on Sunday, taking the total number of tanker-related deaths this year to at least 12.

The victims, who were on a motorcycle, were run over by a water lorry on Anna Salai at Guindy this morning. Police said the tanker carrying water from Neyveli hit the two-wheeler at Halda Junction, killing the rider and the pillion on the spot. A few residents expressed their anger at the scene by smashing the windshield of the tanker. The driver ran away from the scene.

The victims, K.Kumar (34) and N.Ramu (30) were reportedly returning to Saidapet from Velachery. Around noon, another tanker, operating in the city, was also stoned at the junction when it rammed into a car at the junction.

Chennai's mounting tanker-related casualties began in January this year, with the death of a 75-year old cyclist on Velachery High Road. The city was shocked by the death of a housewife, Latha Murali, who was knocked down in March by a tanker, close to Valluvar Kottam where residents have been demanding that the local Metrowater filling station be shifted.

A mother and son were killed in West Mambalam in May, while three school boys died in Kodambakkam the following month. In another shocking case, a housewife who came to the city for summer vacation from Andhra Pradesh, was run over at Madley Road, T.Nagar.

Tanker casualties have been rising due to a combination of factors: speeding, often by unlicensed drivers, vehicles that are not roadworthy, poor road conditions that deprive smaller vehicles of space, proliferation of encroachments on roads and pavements, and police personnel not enforcing traffic rules.

Metrowater, early this year, decided to cancel the contract of vehicles involved in fatal accidents. Not a day passes without reports of fatal accidents involving the water tankers, though the Chennai Metrowater Tanker lorry Owners Association members say they caution their drivers to follow road rules.

A former police commissioner has termed the vehicles as monsters on the road, which force all other road users to give way out of sheer fear.

Over 700 tankers are on contract with Metrowater and operate close to 6,000 trips everyday. A large number of private lorries also ply on the city roads. In addition 460 lorries transport about 500 loads of water to the city from Neyveli daily.

Metrowater has not insisted on fitness norms for the lorries, and relaxed conditions relating to the year of manufacture of the contract vehicles. Unlike the previous year, when vehicles manufactured after 1986 were accepted, this year the clause relating to the year of manufacture was waived.

The Transport Department is also silent on the use of lorries that would not pass fitness tests and do not even have number plates.The association members say that nearly 60 per cent of the drivers are from the districts.

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Section  : Southern States
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